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on Economic Geography |
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Issue of 2015‒03‒22
seventeen papers chosen by Andreas Koch Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung |
| By: | Waleerat Suphannachart Author-Email : fecowrs@ku.ac.th (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics,Faculty of Economics,Kasetsart University,Thailand) |
| Abstract: | This article aims at introducing a spatial aspect of analyzing the relationship between economic growth and poverty, in which the geographical disparity plays an important role. A case study of growth poverty elasticity of Sumatra, Indonesia, using district-level data, is provided as an example of how spatial issues can be incorporated in the analysis. An application of spatial regression is introduced as a suitable method. The case study of Sumatra indicates that spatial influence exists in the poverty determinant model and this spatial relationship shall not be ignored in estimating GEP. Poverty incidence in Sumatra tends to be concentrated in particular locations which is influenced by spatial factors such as types of land, soil condition, transportation, and infrastructure. This suggests a poverty alleviation program should be developed targeting larger regional bases, rather than concentrating on various small areas. This method can be applied in a number of topics in agricultural economics as well as other fields relating to location factors and neighborhood influence. |
| Keywords: | Economic Growth, Poverty, Spatial Regression |
| JEL: | O49 R11 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kau:wpaper:201503&r=geo |
| By: | Coenen , Lars (CIRCLE, Lund University); Hansen , Teis (Department of Human Geography and CIRCLE, Lund University); Rekers , Josephine V. (Department of Human Geography and CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Grand challenges such as climate change, ageing societies and food security feature prominently on the agenda of policymakers at all scales, from the EU down to local and regional authorities. These are challenges that require the input and collaboration of a diverse set of societal stakeholders to combe different sources of knowledge in new and useful ways – a process that has occupied the minds of economic geographers looking at innovation in recent decades. Work in economic geography has informed innovation policies that tackle infrastructural, capabilities, network and institutional failures that may be found in different types of regions. How can these insights improve researchers’ and policymakers’ understanding of the potential for innovation policies to address grand challenges? In this paper we review these insights and then identify areas that push economic geographers to go beyond their previous focus and interests, notably by considering innovation policy in light of transformational rather than mere structural failures. |
| Keywords: | Innovation policy; grand challenges; economic geography; innovation systems failures; transformational systems failure |
| JEL: | O38 Q01 |
| Date: | 2015–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_013&r=geo |
| By: | Stefania Marcassa (Université de Cergy-Pontoise); Alessandra Fogli (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis) |
| Abstract: | We investigate how and when social change arises. We use data on the spatial diffusion of the fertility transition across US counties to identify the contribution of coordination and learning in the emergence of a new family model. We provide several measures of local and global spatial correlation to establish the existence of a significant geographic pattern in the data. We propose a mechanism in which cultural assimilation is the engine of the fertility transition. Using Census data starting from 1850, we estimate the speed of fertility assimilation for the different ethnic groups to show that their process of convergence is a crucial channel to explain the aggregate decline of fertility rate over time and across space. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed014:1388&r=geo |
| By: | Berge, Philipp vom; Schmillen, Achim |
| Abstract: | "Using a novel data set that contains precise geo-referenced information on the universe of German establishments, we analyse both the direct effects of mass layoffs and any indirect impacts on workers who are employed in the vicinity of an establishment being closed down. In line with the literature, we document economically significant impacts of mass layoffs on the employment and earnings prospects of directly displaced workers. In contrast, neither an individual-level difference-indifference approach nor an alternative establishment-level approach inspired by the spatial economics literature find evidence of additional adverse economic effects for workers or establishments indirectly exposed to mass layoffs." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Massenentlassungen, Beschäftigungseffekte, regionaler Arbeitsmarkt, Bayern, Bundesrepublik Deutschland |
| JEL: | J64 J65 R12 |
| Date: | 2015–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201511&r=geo |
| By: | Mayer, Thierry; Trevien, Corentin |
| Abstract: | Evaluating the impact of transport infrastructure meets a major challenge since rail lines are not randomly located. We use the natural experiment offered by the opening and progressive extension of the Regional Express Rail (RER) between 1970 and 2000 in the Paris metropolitan region, and in particular the deviation from original plans due to budgetary constraints and technical reasons, in order to identify the causal impact of urban rail transport on firm location, employment and population growth. We use a difference-in-differences approach on a specific subsample, selected to avoid endogeneity bias which occurs when evaluating transportation effects. We find that the increase in employment is 12.8\% higher in municipalities connected to the new network compared to the existing suburban rail network between 1975 and 1990. Places located within 20 km from Paris are the only affected. While we find no effect on overall population growth, our results suggest that the commissioning of the RER may have increased the competition for land high-skilled households are more likely to locate in the vicinity of a RER station. |
| Keywords: | impact evaluation; location choice; transport infrastructure; urban structure |
| JEL: | D04 H43 R42 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10494&r=geo |
| By: | Andres Castaño (Departamento de Economía, Universidad Católica del Norte); Dusan Paredes (Departamento de Economía, Universidad Católica del Norte) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the effect of the spatial density of firms on gender wage gap. We formalize this relationship using a monopsonistic approach in which women face higher travel costs due to domestic responsibilities. This creates not only bargaining power at the firm level but wage discrimination as well. This bargaining power is reduced in dense areas as they typically present a greater number of job opportunities. Utilizing data at municipality level for Chile and a Propensity Score Matching estimator, we find that a higher number of firms in Chilean municipalities is associated with a reduction in the gender wage gap. Depending on the estimator used, the effect of a 10% increase in the number of firms in a municipality is associated with a decrease in the gender wage gap between 0.6 pp. and 0.9 pp. |
| Keywords: | Regional Labor Markets, Gender Pay Gap, Density of firms |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cat:dtecon:dt201501&r=geo |
| By: | Ufuk Akcigit (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and NBER); Salomé Baslandze (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania); Stefanie Stantcheva (Department of Economics, Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of top tax rates on inventors' mobility since 1977. We put special emphasis on”superstar" inventors, those with the most and most valuable patents. We use panel data on inventors from the United States and European Patent Offices to track inventors' locations over time and combine it with international effective top tax rate data. We construct a detailed set of proxies for inventors' counterfactual incomes in each possible destination country including, among others, measures of patent quality and technological fit with each potential destination. We find that superstar top 1% inventors are significantly affected by top tax rates when deciding where to locate. The elasticity of the number of domestic inventors to the net-of-tax rate is relatively small, between 0.04 and 0.06, while the elasticity of the number of foreign inventors is much larger, around 1.3. The elasticities to top net-of-tax rates decline as one moves down the quality distribution of inventors. Inventors who work in multinational companies are more likely to take advantage of tax differentials. On the other hand, if the company of an inventor has a higher share of its research activity in a given country, the inventor is less sensitive to the tax rate in that country. |
| Keywords: | Taxation, Migration, International Mobility, Superstars, Innovation, Patents, Invention Patents, Invention. |
| JEL: | F22 H24 H31 J44 J61 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2015–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:15-014&r=geo |
| By: | Dusan Paredes (Departamento de Economía, Universidad Católica del Norte); Juan Soto (Departamento de Economía, Universidad Católica del Norte) |
| Abstract: | This paper suggests that long distance commuters in Chile obtain a wage compen- sation of 8.7% on average when they commute among functional areas using data for 2009, while previous work identies an average compensation of 19% using counties. Also, we estimated a higher compensation per hour. This estimated wage-gradient is 6.1% per commuted hour and it is robust in several econometric specications, a signicantly higher number than the 0.06% previously reported in Jamett and Paredes (2013). Long distance commuters receive dierent wage compensation along the education distribution. Workers with a high education earn a higher wage compensation. This research suggests that the labor market alone does not seem to present evidence, which foreshadows a reduction in LDC ows. Moreover, this paper displays how the labor market oers workers higher incentives in order to maintain the ow of long distance commuting. |
| Keywords: | Long Distance Commuting, Wage Compensation, Functional Areas |
| JEL: | J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cat:dtecon:dt201502&r=geo |
| By: | Laurent R. Bergé; Frank van Oort |
| Abstract: | This paper deals with the questions of how network proximity influences the structure of inter-regional collaborations and how it interacts with geography. I first introduce a new, theoretically grounded measure of inter-regional network proximity. Then, I use data on European scientific co-publications in the field of chemistry between 2001 and 2005 to assess those questions. The main findings reveal that inter-regional network proximity is important in determining future collaborations but its effect is mediated by geography. Most importantly, a clear substitution pattern is revealed showing that network proximity benefits mostly international collaborations. |
| Keywords: | network proximity, gravity model, research collaboration, network formation, co-publication |
| JEL: | D85 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1507&r=geo |
| By: | Jeffrey Cohen; Yannis M. Ioannides; Win (Wirathip) Thanapisitikul |
| Abstract: | This paper examines spatial effects in house price dynamics. Using panel data from 363 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas for 1996 to 2013, we find that there are spatial diffusion patterns in the growth rates of urban house prices. Lagged price changes of neighboring areas show greater effects after the 2007-2008 housing crash than over the sample period of 1996-2013. In general, the findings are robust to controlling for potential endogeneity, and for various spatial weights specifications (including contiguity weights and migration flows.) These results underscore the importance of considering spatial spillovers in MSA-level studies of housing price growth. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0809&r=geo |
| By: | Sánchez-Pérez, Manuel; Bourlakis, Michael |
| Abstract: | The OECD (1997) conceives a national innovation system (NIS) as “technology and information among people, enterprises and institutions are key to the innovative process” (p. 7). Innovation is conceived as the result of complex set of relationships among actors in the system, which includes companies, universities and research centres. In actual knowledge-based economies, industry-links are essential for economic development and progress (Ahrweiler et al., 2011). They are essential for building up networks of relationships that are necessary for any firm to innovate (Freeman 1987, 1992). In particular, many influential studies have identified the links between firm innovation and competitive advantage at the national level (Porter, 1990). Lundvall (1992) describes characteristics of NIS, emphasizing the importance or learning and how small countries, with limited public budgets and few large corporations, have selected areas of innovation strength and are able to absorb knowledge and innovations from elsewhere (Cooke et al., 1997). Thus, the vision of a NSI is just beyond the technological advances, “but is more broadly on the factors influencing national technological capabilities” (Nelson & Rosenberg, 1993: 4). |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi14:199376&r=geo |
| By: | Zwiers, Merle (Delft University of Technology); Kleinhans, Reinout (Delft University of Technology); van Ham, Maarten (Delft University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | There is increasing evidence that our societies are polarizing. Most studies focus on labour market and educational outcomes and show a socioeconomic polarization of the bottom and top ends of the population distribution. Processes of social polarization have a spatial dimension which should be visible in the changing mosaic of neighbourhoods in cities. Many studies treat neighbourhoods as more or less static entities, but urban researchers are now increasingly interested in neighbourhood trajectories, moving away from point-in-time measures and enabling a close examination of processes of change. Sequence analysis allows for a visualization of complete trajectories, and is therefore gaining popularity in the social sciences. However, sequence analysis is mainly a descriptive method and statisticians have argued for the use of a tree-structured discrepancy analysis to examine to what extent outcome variability can be explained by a set of predictors. This paper offers a first empirical application of sequence analysis combined with a tree-structured discrepancy analysis. This paper contributes to the debate on urban renewal programs by offering a unique viewpoint on longitudinal neighbourhood change. Our findings show a clear pattern of socio-spatial polarization in Dutch cities, raising questions about the effects of area-based policies and the importance of path-dependency. |
| Keywords: | neighbourhood change, socio-spatial polarization, urban renewal, sequence analysis, tree-structured discrepancy analysis |
| JEL: | O18 P25 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8882&r=geo |
| By: | Hartley, Daniel (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Kaza, Nikhil (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); Lester, T. William (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) |
| Abstract: | In the years since Michael Porter’s paper about the potential competitiveness of inner cities there has been growing evidence of a residential resurgence in urban neighborhoods. Yet, there is less evidence on the competitiveness of inner cities for employment. We document the trends in net employment growth and find that inner cities gained over 1.8 million jobs between 2002 and 2011 at a rate comparable to suburban areas. We also find a significant number of inner cities are competitive over this period—increasing their share of metropolitan employment in 120 out of 281 MSAs. We also describe the pattern of job growth within the inner city, finding that tracts that grew faster tended to be closer to downtown, with access to transit, and adjacent to areas with higher population growth. However, tracts with higher poverty rates experienced less job growth, indicating that barriers still exist in the inner city. |
| Keywords: | Urban Labor Markets; City and Suburban Employment |
| JEL: | O18 R12 |
| Date: | 2015–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1503&r=geo |
| By: | Deeptha Wijerathna; Jayatilleke S Bandara; Christine Smith; Athula Naranpanawa |
| Keywords: | Economic disparity, regions, inequality, convergence, divergence |
| JEL: | R12 O53 R58 R11 O20 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gri:epaper:economics:201410&r=geo |
| By: | Hasan Engin Duran (TIzmir Institute of Technology,Department of City and Regional Planning, Urla-Izmir, Turkey) |
| Abstract: | Regional employment volatility is an undesirable phenomenon which describes a strongly fluctuating pattern of employment, thus, "instability" of a local economy. In the literature on this field, much of the attention has been paid to two main issues. First, a group studies has investigated the evolution of national economic volatility and searched for a tendency towards the moderation or amplification of economic cycles. Second, strand of scholars has analyzed the socio-economic and geographical determinants behind the cross-regional variation of volatility. However, far little attention has been devoted to understanding the causes and consequences of this phenomenon in developing countries So, aim of the present study is actually two fold. First, we analyze the cross-regional determinants of employment volatility in Turkey and decompose relative importance of the sources of employment growth shocks. Second, we examine the relationship between regional instability and economic convergence. In terms of methodology, we use a range of panel data, time series models and nonparametric tools such Random Effects Model; PANEL VAR model and Conditional Kernel Density Estimations. We adopt employment data and many other explanatory variables for NUTS-II level regions and over a period 2004-2013. Our analyses indicate three main results: First ,there are huge differences across regions in employment volatility. Second, volatility of regions is mostly related to demographic and market size characteristics of the regions. So, regions which have high rate of labor market participation (with active labor force) and moderated growth rates; the ones which constitute greater market area tend to experience relatively more smoothed employment pattern and, thus, enjoy a stable economy. Moreover, we have shown that regional economic shocks are mostly driven by region specific disturbances rather than purely nationwide or sectoral shocks. Third, regional instability is found as an important barrier against the fulfillment of economic convergence. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tek:wpaper:2015/06&r=geo |
| By: | Schmid, Timo; Tzavidis, Nikos; Münnich, Ralf; Chambers, Ray |
| Abstract: | Modern systems of official statistics require the estimation and publication of business statistics for disaggregated domains, for example, industry domains and geographical regions. Outlier robust methods have proven to be useful for small area estimation. Recently proposed outlier robust modelbased small area methods assume, however, uncorrelated random effects. Spatial dependencies, resulting from similar industry domains or geographic regions, often occur. In this paper we propose outlier robust small area methodology that allows for the presence of spatial correlation in the data. In particular, we present a robust predictive methodology that incorporates the potential spatial impact from other areas (domains) on the small area (domain) of interest. We further propose two parametric bootstrap methods for estimating the mean-squared error. Simulations indicate that the proposed methodology may lead to efficiency gains. The paper concludes with an illustrative application by using business data for estimating average labour costs in Italian provinces. |
| Keywords: | bias correction,projective and predictive estimators,spatial correlation,business surveys |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:20158&r=geo |
| By: | Cirer-Costa, Joan Carles |
| Abstract: | Mediterranean tourism is usually defined as “3S tourism” – the three S’s standing for sea, sand, and sun. The term highlights the central importance of these three physical factors in the attraction exerted by the shores of Mare Nostrum. In this paper we set out to quantify the impact of the first two of the S’s – sea and sand. In our analysis, sandy beaches emerge as the basic production factor sustaining the tourism business, followed by the coast and the view of the sea. So great is the importance of the sea and the sand as specialized production factors that they actually dictate the spatial morphology of the tourist destinations. The coastline has become an indispensable prerequisite for attracting tourists, and proximity to it determines the quality and price of the various kinds of tourist accommodation. We also show that Mediterranean tourism is essentially an urban phenomenon. Most tourists expect a wide diversity of complementary amenities close to their accommodation; this means that the resorts must be large, dense urbanized areas. |
| Keywords: | Tourism and urban development. Resort morphology. Tourism cluster. Sea, sand & sun tourism. Balearic Islands |
| JEL: | L83 R12 R14 |
| Date: | 2015–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:62843&r=geo |